Firearms, an American story
Guns are explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. It is a right granted to citizens that can be found in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights (1791): “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” While its interpretation has sometimes changed over time, the Second Amendment has been at the heart of American identity for two centuries.
So much so that the federal government has no capacity to reform this law. Firearms legislation is the exclusive prerogative of the federated states, which can decide, under the Tenth Amendment to the Bill of Rights, to regulate the use of firearms, for example by requiring a permit. To date, twenty-seven states still authorize the free possession of firearms. This is the case in Georgia, where Wednesday’s shooting took place. In 2022, a law was passed in this southeastern state to repeal the regulation requiring adults to obtain a permit to carry firearms.
43,000 gun deaths in 2023
Faced with this new tragedy, Joe Biden protested in a statement. “After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘stop’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation. […] We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, implement automatic background checks for gun owners, and end immunity for gun manufacturers.” The Democratic president has been trying for several years to further regulate access to firearms. Without much success.
There are now more than 120 firearms per 100 inhabitants in the United States, according to the Small Arms Survey observatory count cited in an article in Le Monde. In 2023, according to another report, 118 people per day were killed by firearms in the United States. In total, last year, 43,163 people lost their lives, and the number of people killed by gun-related violence increased by 43% between 2010 and 2020, according to the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM).
Developments and promises
During his term, Joe Biden has made prevention of mass shootings his hobby horse. After the Uvalde (Texas) elementary school shooting in May 2022, where twenty-two people including nineteen children were shot dead, his administration managed to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a law that strengthens background checks on gun buyers and better monitors their sales. A year later, in the summer of 2023, Joe Biden announced a further strengthening of controls by requiring all sellers to check the profile of buyers. If gun reform is impossible on a national scale because of the Second Amendment, the federal government has the possibility of regulating the gun trade.
On this issue, the two presidential candidates in November have diametrically opposed visions. During his first term, Donald Trump positioned himself as a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, refusing any toughening of the legislation. Even after the Uvalde shooting, Trump rejected calls for new restrictions. Last February, at an event sponsored by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the billionaire candidate pledged to reverse the reforms adopted under Biden if re-elected.
For her part, Kamala Harris has supported gun safety regulations throughout her political career. As vice president, she oversaw the White House Office on Gun Violence Prevention, a coordinating but non-binding agency. After the high-profile shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Harris called for a ban on assault-style weapons. But to get one, the Democrat will have to build coalitions if she takes office, because such regulations require the approval of Congress, where Republicans are fiercely opposed to any regulation.
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